Dramatis persona*

helenhead Helen Chick

I've always wanted a bumper sticker that said "I'm a female, LDS/Mormon, Scout leading, geocaching, piano-playing, bicycling, mathematics educator with a PhD in maths ... and I VOTE"!

I think this makes me a minority group of cardinality 1!

* Since there's only one of me and "personae" is plural (I think), I've gone with dramatis persona.
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The 11th Commandment, Saint Sansartorial and Wellington

sthoushaltnotparkI enjoy witty signs, and as I strolled the streets of Wellington today I came across this one behind St John’s church.

Not long after this I hit the ritzy shops of Lambton Quay and as I passed the 247th shoe shop (what is it with Wellington and shoe shops?) and decided not to bother with any of the clothes shops, my mind was obviously wandering—presumably influenced by passing the church—and somehow I got to thinking about patron saints. I know there is a patron saint of lost causes, but I think I need a particularly specialised version of this. I hereby elevate Saint Sansartorial, the patron saint for people who think they might like to go clothes shopping but who know there is no point because they won’t find anything they like, or they will but it won’t exist in their size, or it will exist and be in the right size but not in the right colour, or it will exist and be in the right size and be in the right colour but they can’t make up their mind if they actually look good in it, or they simply have absolutely no idea what they want anyway.

Actually, I presume the shoe shops reflect a Wellington obsession with feet. The denizens of this hilly city seem totally accepting of its close contours and are quite prepared to walk where mountain goats fear to tread (not that the shoes I saw in the shoe shops seemed particularly practical for the terrain). The streets are narrow and twisted, and houses are perched precariously on the sides of hills (nay, cliffs). Since rain seems to be a frequent phenomenon, I can’t help wondering whether some people accidentally end up with internal water features as a consequence of the geography!scablecar

Despite Wellington’s reputation for being wet and windy, we’ve actually had relatively good weather … where “relatively” means there were only the occasional showers (barely needing a raincoat), it didn’t blow an absolute gale (although the zephyr on top of Mt Victoria yesterday was enough to freeze my fingers), and it’s not going to drop below 2°C overnight (having not gone higher than 10°C during the day). So, it’s been overcast and cool, but I’ve still been able to get out and do a few things. Today, after the conference closed, I went on the cable car and I found a few more caches. I actually encountered a couple of cachers in the wild: an Irish father and son combination. I’m sure there’s potential for humour in the idea of Irish cachers, but I’m going to leave that to your own imaginations, since this father and son seemed both geographically competent and friendly.

Anyway, Wellington is a compact city, if hilly, and cool, damp and a little windy at this time of year … and tomorrow it is back to Melbourne, which is a sprawling city, depressingly un-hilly, and cool, damp and a little windy at this time of year.

2 comments to The 11th Commandment, Saint Sansartorial and Wellington

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